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THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
PART 1 CHAPTER 6
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Pinocchio goes out to look for food. When he returns he puts his feet on the foot warmer and falls asleep.
IT WAS NIGHT TIME. Pinocchio was frightened to go out into the night, but he was so hungry. He did not stop to think about his fears. Out he went!
It was very dark. Pinocchio heard thunder. He saw lightning now and again, turning the cloudy sky into a sea of fire. A cold, angry wind was blowing. Dust flew about everywhere. Trees shook and made strange noises.
Pinocchio was afraid of the thunder and lightning, but the hunger he felt was greater than his fear. He ran as fast as he could to the town.
The whole place was dark. No one was walking about in the streets, not even a dog. The shops were closed, the doors were locked, the windows were covered.
Pinocchio did not know what to do. His hunger was worse than ever. He ran up to a door and pulled at the door bell again and again, saying to himself: "Someone will hear that! I am sure someone will soon come and help me."
He was right. An old man opened a bedroom window and looked out. He called down angrily: "What do you want at this time of night?"
"Please give me a bit of bread: I am hungry."
"Wait a minute. I'll come back in a moment," answered the old man. He thought Pinocchio was one of those boys who love to walk about at night ringing people's door bells and waking them up.
After a minute or two, the same voice cried out: "Now, stand under the window and hold out your hands! I have got something for you."
Pinocchio quickly got under the window. Suddenly he felt a lot of cold water come falling down onto his poor wooden head, onto his shoulders, and over his whole body. Then he heard a laugh, and the sound of a window shutting.
He went home as wet as a fish. By then he was too sad and too sleepy even to think about being hungry. He sat down in Geppetto's old chair. He put his two feet on the foot warmer to dry them. And then he fell asleep.
While he slept, his wooden feet began to burn. Slowly they turned red and then black. And then small pieces began to fall to the floor. They turned into cold, grey dust.
Pinocchio slept quite happily. While he was asleep he did not feel hungry; nor could he feel his feet burning.
In the morning he opened his eyes. Someone was knocking loudly at the door.
"Who is it?" he called out, sleepily.
"Me!" answered a voice. It was the voice of Geppetto.
Pinocchio jumped up to run to the door, and fell on his face.
He had no feet; they had burned quite away.